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tenesmus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
tenesmus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
tenesmus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
tenesmus you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Borrowing from Medieval Latin tēnesmus, from Ancient Greek τεινεσμός (teinesmós, “vain endeavor to evacuate”), from τείνω (teínō, “to stretch, to pull tight”) + -εσμός (-esmós, nominal suffix).
Pronunciation
Noun
tenesmus (countable and uncountable, plural tenesmuses)
- (medicine) A continual or recurrent but ineffectual inclination to evacuate the bowels, caused by disorder of the rectum or other illness.
1790, William Bligh, A Narrative of the Mutiny:The general complaints of disease among us, were a dizziness in the head, great weakness of the joints, and violent tenesmus, most of us having had no evacuation by stool since we left the ship.
Derived terms
Translations
inclination to evacuate the bowels
References
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
Borrowing from Ancient Greek τεινεσμός (teinesmós, “vain endeavor to evacuate”), from τείνω (teínō, “to stretch, to pull tight”) + -εσμός (-esmós, nominal suffix).
Pronunciation
Noun
tēnesmus m (genitive tēnesmī); second declension (Medieval Latin)
- (medicine) tenesmus
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Inflection
Second-declension noun.
Descendants